The present invention relates to tire chains and particularly to a tensioning connector assembly for a lateral cable of cable-type tire chains.
Modern tire chains, especially those designed particularly for use with radial ply tires, utilize strong lateral cables extending circumferentially alongside the sidewalls on each side of the tire. Such cable-type chains are considerably easier to mount and tighten than were previously available tire chains which used heavy chain links extending both across the tire tread and circumferentially alongside the tire walls. Nevertheless, it is difficult to tighten even such cable-type tire chains, and yet it is important that the tire chains be tight, so as to avoid loose portions of the chains being caught in the fender well of a vehicle, and to avoid unnecessary wear on the tire chains themselves and on the tires on which they are used.
In the past, cable-type chains have incorporated a fastener on one end of a lateral cable, the fastener incorporating a keyhole-shaped slot to engage stoppers mounted on the opposite end portion of a lateral cable, thus providing incremental adjustment of the effective circumference of a lateral cable. However, engagement of such a stopper in a keyhole-shaped slot necessarily results in some slack being provided, leaving the lateral cables somewhat looser than is really desired. Nestlen U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,368 discloses tire chains having lateral cables and a fastener incorporating a clasp defining a keyhole-shaped slot, to engage anchors or stoppers mounted on the opposite end of the lateral cable with a certain amount of security. Nestlen, however, does not disclose any device for actually applying tension to the lateral cable.
Prior link-type tire chains have included various chain-fastening devices incorporating levers and hooks which act to apply tension in such chains, but such fasteners useful for link-type tire chains are not particularly useful for tire chains incorporating lateral cables. Examples of some such chains are disclosed in Nestlen U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,602, Wilson U.S. Pat. No. 2,710,437, Hewel U.S. Pat. No. 2,198,478, Heinecke U.S. Pat. No. 1,866,889, Bennett U.S. Pat. No. 1,573,759, Eckart U.S. Pat. No. 1,512,833, and Hubble U.S. Pat. No. 1,418,149.
Other devices for use with link-type tire chains provide for latching a fastener securely once it has been closed. Some of such devices are disclosed in St. Pierre U.S. Pat. No. 2,612,670, Myers et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,153,003, Stahl U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,123,864 and 1,851,460, and Thomas U.S. Pat. No. 1,816,941. Barnett et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,155 and Searfoss U.S. Pat. No. 1,483,686 disclose lever devices for applying tension in link-type tire chains.
Erving U.S. Pat. No. 2,705,520, Eckroat U.S. Pat. No. 1,681,526, and Tawney U.S. Pat. No. 1,310,456 all disclose devices for latching a tire chain in a closed position. While Erving discloses tire chains using lateral cables, it does not disclose a closure device which permits adjustment of the effective circumferential length of the lateral cable of the chains.
Particularly in tire chains intended for use on large tires, such as truck tires, it is difficult to mount such tire chains by manually applying sufficient tension to latch an appropriate anchor device into a fastener of the type disclosed by Nestlen.
What is needed, then, is a fastener for tire chains including lateral cables extending circumferentially about the side wall of a tire, which is able to apply tension to the lateral cable and retain the tension in the lateral cable, rather than allowing a significant portion of the tension to be relaxed as the stopper affixed to one end portion of the cable is allowed to slide downward within the throat of a keyhole-shaped slot in a fastener.